Having wowed audiences at events like SIGGRAPH in 2016 Ninja Theory launched its critically acclaimed adventure Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for PC in the summer of 2017. Today, in a surprise announcement the studio has confirmed a virtual reality (VR) version will be released this month.
Making the announcement via Twitter, Ninja Theory said that a Oculus Rift and HTC Vive versions would be released on 31st July, 2018. For owners of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice the VR edition will be free – it’s currently retailing for £24.99 GBP on Steam.
In addition to the announcement the studio also released a developer diary (seen below) giving further details about the VR edition and how it came to be. Some of the more interesting information contained in the video concerns the actual specifications of the PC to run the experience. While most VR titles usually recommend an NVIDIA GTX 970 or above, for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition you’ll need a minimum of a NVIDIA GTX 1080 or AMD Radeon RX 580.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition features Senua’s full journey from the original videogame plus additional experimental game modes and fully customisable comfort options notes the studio.
In the video Dominic Matthews, Commercial Director at Ninja Theory, notes: “Why did we do this? Well there was never really a good business case for Hellblade VR. We did it out of curiosity and out of the desire to find out more about VR, and because we thought the final experience would be something cool for our fans.”
The story in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition is set in the Viking age following a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Players are cast in the role of Senua, a broken Celtic warrior, embarking on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition will be a free update to the original videogame on Tuesday, 31st July. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.